Silver & Gold

Silver & Gold is a card game for 2-4 people from Pandasaurus Games. While it doesn't use dice, it is a "roll-and-write" game that has a random outcome each turn that players have to utilize to earn points.

Each player is given a dry-erase marker, a score card and two island cards to start the game. Each turn, a new shape card is flipped. Players then place that shape on one of their two island cards. If they can't place the shape (or choose not to), they instead mark just a single box. When a player completes an island, they put it off to the side, then draw a new one from a row of islands on the table. When all but one of the shape cards has been revealed, the shapes then get shuffled together again and a new round starts. Once four rounds have been completed, whoever has the most points wins. Players earn points for completed islands, bonuses for certain types of islands, coins gathered and for palm trees they marked off throughout the game.

I, like most people, have been stuck inside for a while now. The game that my family is playing the most is Silver & Gold. It's a game that rewards some clever placement tactics as well as choice of replacement card, but also has just enough luck in the mix to make each game interesting and not just won by the player who is best at games. I like that there are various strategies for playing, most of which are capable of being winning strategies (palm trees seem to be more of a bonus than a strategy). Because it's a roll-and-write game, the player count is fairly flexible. There is a first player each round (which matters when multiple people have to get a new island at the same time) and the coin trophies are first come, first served. The more people there are, the more that going first in a round has importance and the more people, the greater the difference in coin values throughout.